Dukan Diet

Since life has been a little turbulant of late I have felt the slow creep of weight increasing on my curves.  I'm not obsessed by size, but I know which sizes look well on me and I personally prefer to be a size 14 to 14/16 and I have to admit that I'm far more 16 than I am 14 at the moment, so I am now in the right frame of mind to do something about it.  For this reason I recently sent off for literature on the Dukan diet.

The diet is quite strict and it is well explained, so you understand why it asks you to do what it wants and the first 5 days is quite intense and promises a good start to weight loss if you stick to it completely.  Believe me I am trying!

Day 1 was yesterday (Friday) As it starts with a protein only 5 day shock tactic, I am literally only allowed meat and eggs (well mostly).  I started off the day with eating some king prawns, which were yummny and then I grilled some rump steak and topped it with a poached egg for lunch.  The meat was a bit chewy and I got bored of chewing lol.  Then at the end of the day (quite late) I got hungry again and decided to cut some steak into strips and cook them on the breville grill with a coating of soy sauce.  I was worried it would be a bit too dry so I looked through the cupboards to see what I could use to moisten it a little and decided that some low fat coconut milk and a teaspoon of thai curry paste would go down nicely.  It actually tasted gorgeous, but I think I may have gone off the diet already.  Oops!

Day 2 started with oat bran pancakes, as the recipe in the book.  I managed to make 3 like little american pancakes and actually apart from being a little eggy they tasted really nice and sweet.  I shall definitely make them again, as I didn't feel hungry again until 1pm.  For lunch I cut some strips of steak again and straight under the breville grill .  It was tasty enough and succulent enough with out any sauce, so this time I abstained from trying to make something that was likely laced with carbs.  This brings us to dinner time.  I decided to make some meatballs from some lean mince meat and added some tomato passanda and a shwartz packet of spices for meatballs.  Now it does say you can use spices in abundance in the book, so I didn't bother to look at the ingredients when I made them and I have to say, they tasted amazing!!!  I was happily tucking into them, when I decided to have a look at what was in the spices and was dismayed to find there is 17.5g of carbs in the mix of which is likely due to there being breadcrumbs.

Oh well, too late now, as I ate the lot!  They were lovely.  I will see if it's spoilt losing any weight tomorrow when I have a check.  Thankfully I ate it before 8pm though, so time for it to go down a bit yet.

Make note to self... Must try harder!!!

Good news!  I just weighed myself on the morning of the 3rd day and I have lost a massive 5lbs!  How brilliant is that?  I've still got 3 days left to go, so who knows what the total loss will be before I start phase 2 of the diet.  Please do not worry.  It is a great diet that really does take into account all the nutrients that are needed and a diet that can be maintained long term.  There are 4 phases in total, with the first one being very intense.  On the sixth day I'll be back on vegetables in abundance, but still no carbs.  This phase continues until I have hit my goal weight (whatever that is).  The third phase continues with five days for every pound I have lost, so quite a long time at this rate with the last phase pretty much eating normally with one full protein day each week and it suggests no lifts or escalotors.  I suppose that means don't take the easy route and walk lol.

Update*

I've just got back from London after a gruelling few days working with one of my other much loved, but very full on jobs.  Apart from perhaps late last night/early this morning.  I did my very best to keep to the diet religiously.  This was somewhat hampered by the fact that the apartment that I had booked, turned out not to be an apartment at all, but move of a box room with a couple of hots and a sink.  There wasn't even any washing up liquid let alone practical cooking implements.  Resigned to not being able to cook the whole chicken I had taken along with me I resorted to buying cooked meats and nibbling on those while on my own and while with company was as controlled as I could be with a nando's chicken and dry salad (yes how impressive is that!) Well, it was until this morning lol.  Having justs settled back at the hotel and being ravenous I succumbed to a lebanese chicken kebab with salad and it came with either chips or rice and I'm afraid I chose the chips.  I only ate around 5 of them though and let my friend eat the rest.  It also had some unlevened bread with it, that was absolutely amazing!!! Oh and a bit of garlic mayo lol.

I weighed myself when I got back to the apartment around 10.30am and it showed further weight loss and I have now reached the 10lb mark.  I am hoping that another 1lb will be off tomorrow, as I will be eating at a more respectable hour and I am getting rather close to shedding my first stone!

I have to admit that I am finding it harder and harder to keep to the protein only days and even if I manage most of the day without any kind of veg, I seem to feel the need to have some for the main meal of the day.  I think I'm going to continue working within my comfort zone though and try and keep to one full protein day a week.

Friday 25th November - Another 2lbs off today!!!! that makes 12lbs in total and just 2lbs off losing my first stone. woop, woop!  I was starting to wonder if it would ever happen, with no apparent weight lost in 3 days, but it was just a matter of time.

I'm going out for a meal with friends tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

26th Dec - Another pound down - now at 12lbs!

This evening I was looking for something to wear, as I was going out with friends and as I thumbed through my wardrobe I spotted a red satin dress that I had bought a few years back that had become too tight to pull the zip up.  On impulse I decided to try it on and see how far away I was from actually zipping it to the top and to my sheer amazingment it zipped up effortlessly.  From there I decided to try on a dress that I had more recently bought in the sales, that pretty much fitted, but I couldn't do up the last couple of inches of the zip at the back, again it zipped up beautifully and finally I decided to have a go at a dress I bought last year that is lovely but no way could I get the zip up and again it fitted.

This put me in the best frame of mind for going out for a meal, as I was so chuffed at the results, there was no way I was going to be silly and eat the most gorgeous looking steam pudding I've ever seen or partake in the lavish amounts of alcohol on the table.  As it was I saved myself a fortune, as the drinks bill alone came to over £140, as they were drinking wine at £18 a bottle.

I was a little naughty with my starter, so I probably have gone back a day, but I'm happy that my main course was not off the diet, so I tried my best to be good.  Fingers crossed. I'll take some pics either today or tomorrow and you can see what you think, but please bear in mind that I'm not done yet, this is around the half way mark.

I'll let you know when I hit the first stone and what my next goal is soon and hopefully very soon!

30th November - DONE IT!  I am now one stone lighter than when I first started this thread. 



I'm starting on my  next stone as from tomorrow.  Let's see how long that one takes. What do you reckon?  I guess I should give it 2 months, as I have promised myself time off for good behaviour from Christmas Eve to New Year's day.  I will likely start in ernest with 3 protein only days when I go to Euston, as it will be easier to do away from all the goodies in a likely bulging freezer and fridge.

Kx